


Divergence of fate

by DraxRG7



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons), Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro
Genre: Adding my oc Imah because Draal needs troll friends of his age, Barbara's A+ Parenting (Tales of Arcadia), Draal's mom is dead, Everyone Must Be Protected, Everyone have fresh wounds, F/M, Found Family, Idk i will work this out somehow, James Sr's abandoment is still fresh, Kanjigar's A+ Parenting (Tales of Arcadia), Let's think trolls age in a way both Draal and Jim are kids at the same time, What if Draal and Jim met when they were both kids, Worlds meeting, everyone is baby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25641679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DraxRG7/pseuds/DraxRG7
Summary: Two infants of different species meet for a game of fate. A human child and a troll whelp are to blame for turning their worlds upside down, especially that of their parents.How will Kanjigar, THE TROLLHUNTER, explain that his son is guilty of exposing himself to humans?How will Barbara, A RECENTLY DIVORCED MOTHER, explain how her son became friends with a hidden race for centuries?These things only happen when you leave children alone for a couple of seconds.
Relationships: Draal & Jim Lake Jr. (Tales of Arcadia), Kanjigar/Barbara Lake
Comments: 42
Kudos: 110





	1. The basement

**Author's Note:**

> I got the idea for this fic reading some Kanjibara fics lol  
> I did this drawing.  
> https://drax-is-inthefandom.tumblr.com/post/624033849337397248/remember-that-possible-au-that-i-mentioned-here  
> And BOOM. I had an Au on my hands. Hope you like it.
> 
> This will be a divergent fic from canon AF. Very self indulgent for creating angst and fluff. Enjoy!

By the time the clock struck 6 in the morning, the last light in the Lake house was finally turned off. Barbara Lake, a current medical student and recently divorced mother, had finally finished her theoretical career jobs, after a full day of housework and schoolwork, she could get a modest three hours sleep before having to wake up to make breakfast for the day .

Funny that Saturday morning, she would not sleep just a couple of hours as she was used to, but rather that a little one with disheveled hair and bright blue eyes had been in charge of sabotaging her alarm to make sure she slept as much as necessary. By the time the sky was turning to warm orange hues, Jim Lake Jr was already awake and active, ready to take on as much housework as a 6-year-old could do - all because Mommy could finally take a break!

Breakfast was the main thing, because a growing child just like his mother, a future doctor, had to eat well. From under his pillow he pulled out the magazine page he had ripped from his last visit to the dentist and as fast and quiet as he could go downstairs, he ran to the kitchen to collect all the ingredients that were in the magazine recipe.

It was an omelet, something he could easily do without causing a fire, lately he was helping his mom in the kitchen and taking on more and more chores in food preparation, so he was confident that there would be no problem at all with him taking care of breakfast for the day by himself.

Confident and with a smile on his lips, Jim turned on the coffee pot so that when his mother woke up he could receive her with a cup of hot coffee along with the omelet. He could already imagine his mom rested, eating without falling asleep at the table and without having to worry about having to clean or do any other chores. He could even take care of lunch if necessary! Today he just wanted her not to worry about a thing.

He was in the middle of whisking the eggs when he heard something that brought him out of his fantasies. A strange noise.

He leaned out to the stairs, his ears sharpening to make sure his mom hadn't got up. Nothing, absolute silence.

There was nothing in the living room either.

"It's nothing" He said to convince himself, it was still early and maybe his head was playing a trick on him for getting up early. Obviously the darkness that was still in the house and that did not allow him to see anything through the windows was not causing him any paranoia to be hearing noises, clearly not.

But then he heard the noise again, this time louder and accompanied by what sounded like falling boxes.

Now he was sure where the noise was coming from. The basement.

His first impulse upon hearing such noise from the place of his house that he was most afraid of was running towards the stairs to look for Mom, to seek her protection in her arms and between her sheets. But hearing her light snores through her door, just as he was about to turn the knob to enter, made him stop.

He was supposed to be doing this to get her to rest, it was supposed to be a surprise, if he ran with her because he was scared of a noise, his whole plan would be ruined. He released the knob and went back downstairs.

Again he heard noises coming from the basement.

He gulped.

“I am a big boy. I protect mom now. ” With shaky legs, Jim returned to the kitchen to take what he considered a good weapon against whatever was in the basement: the largest metal spoon in the drawer.

Armed with his spoon and accumulating as much courage as he could on his little chest, the boy slowly approached the door that led to the basement to turn the door handle with trembling hands, fearful that his movements would alert any monster behind it and get himself attacked the moment he opened it. He raised the spoon in front of him when the door was finally open, shrinking and closing his eyes to avoid seeing his enemy in the face, as if the metal utensil was enough to scare him.

A few seconds passed and nothing seemed to eat him, so he opened his eyes.

He only found the darkness of the steps. He breathed again, not realizing that he had stopped doing it, he sat on the first step with the spoon firmly against his chest, waiting again for something to happen.

Again, nothing.

"You can do this, Jim." He took a deep breath, inflating his chest with it in a gesture of pure determination, and began to descend slowly, one step at a time and without removing the spoon away from himself. He kept his eyes open, waiting for them to adapt to the darkness in order to find any sign of what that noise had been, his ears until now only caught the light grinding of the wood under its weight as he advanced.

He was already halfway up the stairs when he finally saw something. What he saw almost made him throw the spoon out of fear, but again, as if it were a sword worthy of a knight, he raised it in front of him, threatening whatever was staring back at him.

"W-Who's there?"

He could swear it, yellow eyes were staring at him as intently as he was staring at whoever was the owner of those eyes. But he was sure it wasn't remotely as scared as he was.  
The growl that answered his question could assure it to him.

"W-Whoever you are, I-I'm not afraid of you!"

It was a raccoon, it must be a raccoon, whenever a strange noise was accompanied by bright and threatening eyes that stared at him from the forest, his mother always showed him that it was just a raccoon. This could not be different.

"I'm not afraid of you either"

Only that raccoons didn't speak.

He wanted to scream but the words were drowned in his throat, it had closed as a maximum security vault, with all the fear he was feeling his head only managed to tell his body to do one thing. He threw the spoon directly at the owner of those yellow eyes.

"What is this?" But his strength as a 6-year-old boy was not enough to cross the entire basement space to where the invader seemed to be, the utensil was halfway, in a neutral point of both where the light of the corridor still entered but the absolute darkness of the rest of the room began.

Jim felt himself shaking as he saw a hand approaching from the darkness, a blue hand. If he was not paralyzed before, now he was fused with the steps.

After the hand, an arm appeared, then another hand and little by little the body of the owner of those yellow eyes was revealed. In just seconds, the invader was fully revealed, all in order to smell a spoon he used to serve the stews.

It was ... A strange creature, clearly it was not a raccoon. Its skin was blue, but it had no texture of fur or scales or ... or skin, it was too smooth and firm. What was it made of? Another thing that drew attention more than the color of its skin, were the horns on its head, it had two pairs, two small on the top and some larger that waved slightly to the sides, they were a color similar to ivory. On his shoulders it also seemed to have protuberances, but they were not horns, they were slightly more translucent, it was noted by how the light that entered the basement interacted with these. Crystals? And… did he have more on his back?

"What are you?" He thought he had thought about it, but seeing the invader raise his head from sniffing the spoon to focus on him, he gulped at his loose tongue.

"Something you shouldn't be seeing" From the tone in which the blue creature spoke, it showed that he wanted to sound intimidating, aggressive, but even a small child like Jim could notice the shame that the slight tremor in his tone betrayed him.

"Then why am I seeing you?" He wasn't attacking him and seemed more interested in the spoon than in him, curiosity overcame any fear he had been feeling until now. He was a boy with a nascent streak for adventure. Could you blame him?

"... Because I failed to go unnoticed to enter your house" Now yes, the shame was more obvious. The invader dropped to his butt on the ground, taking the spoon in his hands to continue sniffing it.

"Why did you come into my house?"

"Because the sun is already rising" And the question that Jim was going to ask, was swallowed by the surprise of seeing the invader taking a bite out of his spoon, making half of the utensil disappear from a bite as if it were a simple caramel.

"... Do you have more of that? It was delicious.” It took him to see how the entire spoon was devoured so Jim could even remember how to speak.

"Uh ... I don't think my mom would like to know that you ate a spoon, if I bring you something else she may worry that she has lost kitchen utensils" A pout from the blue invader was his answer and Jim couldn't avoid a giggling, he puffed out his cheeks in a similar way to Toby when he was throwing a tantrum and it was a funny sight for him.

"Why are you laughing? Do you want us to fight? ” And his laughter died as soon as he saw the invader putting himself into a position similar to that of a bull ready to charge a bullfighter, he even moved his foot as they do to signal that it will take the hit! Jim moved his hands in frenzy, he was not very excited about the idea of getting rammed with those horns that he had on his head.

"Nononono, sorry, sorry ... You reminded me of a friend, that's all"

"... Did I remind you of one of your fleshbag friends?"

"... Fleshbags? Uh ... Yes, Toby may be a little… stuffed, but it's not to call him that”

"... Stuffed? No, I meant that all of you humans are fleshbags, you are a fleshbag”

"I am not a fleshbag!"

"Yes you are!"

"Not!"

"Yes!"

Now it was Jim's turn to pout, forgetting that he was in the basement, forgetting that his only light was coming from the open door into the hallway, he got up from the step where he was sitting and with a firm step, doing his best imitation to how he saw his mom acted when someone made her mad, he walked over to the blue invader and stood in front of him.

"I'm not a fleshbag, don't call me that"

His challenge position was quickly captured but he did not receive the answer he expected, until now the invader had remained sitting or walking on all fours, but seeing him stand in front of him with such bearing, made him respond in the same way. With a push of his arms, he got up and planted in front of Jim, puffing out his chest with the intention of appearing bigger, that even without that, he was at least a head and a half taller than the 6-year-old boy, and that without counting the horns.

"Well, humans are fleshbags, so that's what you are, fleshbag"

The two little ones held their gaze, blue eyes against yellow eyes, neither wanting to give his arm to twist in that silent challenge.

Their staring war lasted long enough that they had to look away to blink, both leaving their eyes dry for not wanting to give up. Jim was annoyed, but oddly, the invader laughed.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Because I did not expect to see a child stand in front of the great Draal, fleshbag"

"My name is not fleshbag! My name is Jim! Jim Lake Jr!”

"Then we already know the other's name, _Jim_ "

A snort came from Jim's lips while Draal only laughed.

Funny that this would not be their last fight, because what these little ones did not know is that their innocent interaction would be the key point for a radical change in the both of their worlds.

A change that only time would tell what kind of path will take. Positive? Or negative?

The divergence of fate had only just begun.


	2. A new friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Children always tell the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rembember I replayed someone's commentary that this will arrive next week... Well, surprise! I got a kick of inspiration. Enjoy!

Some time ago he and Toby found a lost puppy on their way back from school, he was a cute and a friendly little boy, dirty and full of fleas, the little ones didn't have the heart to leave him alone. Between them they bathed him with the flea shampoos and soaps of Nana's cats and gave him a can of cat food, the little one did not complain, he was probably too hungry to refuse the food.

Toby and he had fallen in love with that puppy, with an old box and some blankets they even made a makeshift bed for him. Nana's cats would not be the best companions for the puppy, they realized that when one of these scratched him when he tried to approach them, so they planned to ask Jim's mother if they could please keep him.  
A new member in the family to fill the space of the one who had left was not a bad idea, was it?

To their sadness, Barbara said no. The Lake home couldn't accommodate anyone else, not with the meager income of a medical student who worked part-time to support herself and her son.

Back then it was just a puppy that they were able to take to the Arcadia Animal Shelter and that they were able to visit a couple of times until they received the news that he had been adopted.

But Draal was not a dog.

They couldn't put him in a box and take him to the animal shelter.

First, because he was too heavy to carry in a cardboard box, second, Jim didn't think the shelter would accept creatures with horns and crystals growing from his back, and third, because unlike a dog, Draal was much more difficult to handle, control and get him to listen to you. But, amusingly, he too could be convinced with food.

It was an effort to go up and down the basement stairs several times, but the garbage from the Lake house was enough to create a decent “dish” by Draal's standards, Jim couldn't quite understand why he didn't accept the omelet he had done for him. An omelet was so much better than the broken light bulbs, glasses and bottles that Draal wanted to eat!  
But he supposed it was simply a difference in tastes, like when one child liked jelly with peanut butter and another believed that this combination was disgusting, if his mother had taught him something, it was that other people's food tastes would always be different from each other and that he should respect them.

Even if Draal's likes were much weirder than what he was used to.

"Why are you staring at me?" After making sure to turn off the coffee pot once it was done and leaving his mom's omelet in a container that would keep it fresh until she woke up, the little Lake grabbed a glass of orange juice and his own plate and went straight to the basement, where Draal was more than entertained chewing on a piece of glass, and sat down to eat with him.

It was impossible for him to hide his curiosity when he saw him eat things that his mother had taught him were not to eat.

"How come you don't hurt yourself eating that?" Jim asked curiously, stuffing a piece of omelet into his mouth.

"Ah yeah, you fleshbags can't eat this." The repetition of that nickname made Jim puff out his cheeks, Draal rolled his eyes.

"We trolls have stronger teeth, in general our body is stronger than yours" He swallowed the glass he had held in his mouth to answer the child "But I don't know exactly why, I just-"

"Are you a troll?! Like the ones in the stories? Did you say "we"? Are there more like you?!" The human's excitement was so big that he almost knocked his plate to the ground, but he had the decency to put it aside before crawling with an ear-to-ear grin and sparkling eyes to Draal, almost smashing their faces together.

The little troll was stunned by such reaction and interruption. He scratched his cheek not knowing how to react.

"Can you tell me more?" The boy almost begged, sitting now at a distance where the troll could breathe his own air.

"I-, uh ... I-I don't know if I should." Well, now that he thought about it, he had already said too much. His mere presence was too much information! If his father saw him, he would scold him for breaking the rule that he has repeated the most throughout his life.

_“You must not be seen by humans, son. They would not understand that we share this world with them. And when a human does not understand something, they can become dangerous"_

But he, Jim… didn't look dangerous? At least he didn't feel in immediate danger around him.

"Please, Draal." The human's pleas would bring him out of his thoughts.

"I really want to know more about you all, about you ..." He puffed up his cheeks in a pout, looking him straight in the eye. Draal puffed out his cheeks as well and looked away, the internal conflict he was having being obvious in his posture.

"I think I know what we can do" Now Jim spoke more calmly, recognizing a fellow timid kid as himself. “At school, on the first day we always do these presentations where we say our names, our age, our likes and what we hope to be when we grow up, it usually helps to ‘break the ice’, as adults say, so that we know if we have something in common with our companions without the pressure of speaking alone” Jim smiled and straightened up where he was sitting, Draal tilted his head, not quite grasping the idea that was presented to him.

“Look, I'll start if you want. My name is James Lake Jr, I prefer to be called Jim and I am 6 years old, my favorite movie is any of Gun Robot, I like to cook with my mother and my best friend is Toby Domzalski. When I grow up I want to be an adventurer like the ones from the films!" Jim puffed out his chest and raised his arms during his presentation, emphasizing his excitement when talking about his likes and aspirations.

"Now it's your turn." The boy lowered his hands, letting them rest on his crossed legs, and looked expectantly at Draal. The blue troll played with his fingers for a moment before sighing.

“Uh… My name is Draal, son of Kanjigar… I am…” He had to pause to remember “…92 years old, I like to train with my dad, listen to stories about his battles and explore the crystal caves… My best friend is Imah, protégé of Vendel… And when I grow up I want to be the Trollhunter.” Draal looked up at Jim, waiting for a validation as to whether he had presented himself correctly. Seeing the boy open-mouthed… didn't give him a very clear message.

"Are you 92?! But… 92 people are old, with gray hair and a cane! And did you say battles? Is your dad a warrior? What is a Trollhunter? "

Talking about the biology of trolls was a completely unknown subject for him, that was Blinky's area. But talking about the battles of none other than his father, Kanjigar the courageous? That was something he could do with no problem!

Draal, with pride and emotion, spoke of how his father, the Trollhunter, has fought valiantly for centuries to protect the world from humans and trolls alike, how his strength and strategic mind have saved lives, not just his own but entire clans!

Jim listened in amazement, the omelet as well as the half-chewed stack of glass now long forgotten, hearing about a mystical protector and all his victories was much more interesting than eating.

Surely they could have stayed like this for hours and hours, but the outside world had to arrive to get them out of their bubble.

"Jim?" His mother's voice made both children jump. The two of them had completely forgotten that they were not alone in that house.

“Oh, my mom already woke up! I will go to accompany her to breakfast. I can not wait to tell her about you, she will love your dad's stories!"

"No, wait, Jim! Fleshbag, come back here!!

But Jim had already gone up the stairs with his plate and glass in hand, leaving Draal at the bottom of the basement suffering a panic attack. Now he had endangered the troll world by sure!

* * *

"Mommy, mommy!"

Jim emerged from the basement with the biggest smile on his face, radiating energy as he ran to hug his mother. Barbara, surprised but touched, responded to the hug, greeting her little one with a kiss on the forehead.

"Good morning, Jim"

"Good morning, mommy, did you sleep well?" Not seeing her yawn with her shoulders slumped as she normally did, already gave the little one an idea that his plan had worked.

“Yes, Jim, I slept very well. It seems that my alarm decided to let me sleep more than I had planned today” Jim widened his smile when his mother gave him a questioning look, hitting her right at her weak point. She couldn't get mad at such a sweet boy with good intentions.

“I'm very happy, mommy. Come! I made you breakfast! Ham and cheese omelet and your coffee is ready"

Barbara's face was a poem throughout breakfast.

Her little one, who is only 6 years old, prepared a delicious omelet for her, and she didn't say it because she was his mother, it actually tasted very good, he put the coffee pot on by himself and there was no trace of anything broken or burned. Had he also taken out the trash?

"Mommy, I made a new friend today" And the surprises did not end.

"A new friend?"

"Yep! He is very interesting and fun! I was a little scared when I met him… But now I like him! " 

Her son had made a new friend that Saturday morning. It wasn't after 11 in the morning and as far as she knew, the only kid in the cul-de-saq other than Jim, was Toby.  
What had she missed?

"His name is Draal and he's a blue troll with crystals on his back"

Oh.

"He told me very interesting stories about his dad!"

_Oh._

Okay. They had reached that point of dueling then. Her colleagues in psychology had warned her of this possibility.

Jim had made an imaginary friend to process the… departure… of James. A fantastic creature that could entertain him and tell him stories about what he could no longer have.

She must handle this well. She smiled and tenderly stroked her son's cheek.

"I'm happy for you darling, why don't you invite Toby to play with you and Draal later?" She could have sworn she saw the little boy vibrate in his seat.

"I'd love to, thank you mommy!"

She wasn't going to deny the existence of the imaginary friend her son made to overcome abandonment, but anchoring reality and physical friendship wasn't a bad idea either.

_If only she knew that such "imaginary friend" was right now digging a hallway in her basement._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Toby was supposed to show up in this one, but Draal and Jim wanted some more alone time.  
> Ok so! You can't tell me that Barbara, a doctor, doesn't have a least one psychologist friend who offeared her advise for her situation with James, both for her and Jim.   
> Imaginary friends are sometimes seen as an answer from a kid towards anxiety, specially if a separation is involved, they can be a good coping mechanism for children and should not be a worry for their parents.  
> You will tell me that if you hear your son telling you he befriended a troll and you would not think it is just his imagination.


End file.
